Giving it a B is too generous. That would probably be like saying you'd be ok with it if all of our drafts turned out like the one in '07.

NEPAsteeler

04-24-2010, 10:00 PM

Dallas Baker is now playing in the Arena Football League. Gotta bring in the checks (albeit small ones now) somehow I guess. I'll give it a B just because of Woodley. lol.

slippy

04-24-2010, 10:05 PM

i posted the following in an earlier thread; glad to see some of yinz are like minded:

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i looked over the drafts back to the mid 90's, and it seems we only ever get two quality starters every year (three in a good year).

some of those guys start right away and are pro bowlers and some started for a few years and moved on.

2002 is an exception: 5 starters and 2 spot duty guys out of the 8 picks.

and the steelers are considered one of the best drafting teams.

before you bring up the patriots* draft brilliance, please look over their last few years. average to bad.

on the OLB run: i guess converting a DE to rush OLB is high risk, so if one of the three work out then it was a success.......????
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SteelerFanInStl

04-24-2010, 11:09 PM

3rd Round - B - Matt Spaeth - above avg TE - would be a starter if we didnt already have one of the best TE's in the league

Can't say that I agree with that. Spaeth can't block and he can't catch. I doubt if he'd start for any team in the NFL. I give him a D.

I think I'd have to give the draft a C overall.

steelreserve

04-25-2010, 01:56 AM

C. Although if I had more time to think about it, I'd probably change it to a D+ or a straight D.

After three years, your 1st and 2nd rounders BETTER be starting, or you messed up bad. So we did well enough to hold our own, but that's expected.

After that, we have Spaeth, who can't block, can barely catch, has not produced anything of note, and ought to be cut. F, no doubt about it.

We have Gay, who was pressed into the starting role out of necessity and sucked so bad that he lost the job in-season and we immediately brought back the old guy who use to play his position. That's falling on your face about as hard as possible. Neither of these guys count as starters if you ask me; they're backups who were pressed into starting roles and failed miserably. Another solid F.

Sepulveda is a pretty good punter -- but just like you'd BETTER get starters on offense and defense out of your 1st and 2nd-rounders, you'd BETTER get a good specialist out of a 4-7 rounder or you messed up. We did about as well as could be expected.

The rest of the guys aren't even on the team.

So we had three picks where we met expectations, and they were high enough that they ere pretty hard to miss on. We completely flopped on the rest. That's a pretty shitty draft if you ask me.

Steely McSmash

04-25-2010, 02:37 AM

That's an A

Expectations are way out of line for some of you in my opinion. Several starters and a pro-bowl caliber guy in Woodley is a very good draft. If we pick 1 pro -bowler a year I will be over the moon.

ricardisimo

04-25-2010, 02:48 AM

I differ with many in Steeler Nation in that I don't think we are the invincible draft day behemoths that many of the talking heads make us out to be (especially Tina Weymouth). However, I do think that we have been pretty good about having regularly spaced out überdrafts, and this was our most recent example. Very good work by Colbert and (I'm assuming) Tomlin.

Cam Stephenson was the only flat-out miss, in my opinion, although obviously drafting a back-up TE in the third round is... odd. If Dallas Baker had worked out (and if Sweed had not been drafted, Baker would definitely have had a roster spot all of those years) it would have put a nice punctuation mark on an already great draft.

There is one caveat: Tomlin may or may not have overplayed his hand before the draft talking up Darelle Revis, and sure enough, the Jets traded up to the slot before us to draft him. That weighs down the draft a bit. Having Timmons and Woodley, vs. having Revis and Woodley... hmmm. :scratchchin:

steelreserve

04-25-2010, 02:53 AM

Expectations are way out of line for some of you in my opinion. Several starters and a pro-bowl caliber guy in Woodley is a very good draft. If we pick 1 pro -bowler a year I will be over the moon.

Expectations are to get one or two starters per year and two or three role players. Anything less than that and you're falling behind. You have 22 positions on the team, and if a guy has a 10-year career, that's a LONG time. Simple mathematics means you've got to replenish two starters a year at minimum. One Pro Bowl guy is great, but you've got to have an overall success rate better than that.

In recent years, we did great in that our top picks panned out -- but they SHOULD pan out. The rate at which our mid-round picks have flamed out without producing ANYTHING has been alarming to me.

Remember, on either side of Woodley (who we were extremely lucky to have dropped to us thanks to weed), we blew 4 out of 5 second-rounders (Colclough, A. Jackson, A. Smith, probably Sweed), and we've messed up quite a few 3rd-rounders as well (Reid, B. Davis, Urbik, Spaeth). The mid-round guys who should be filling roles are somewhat lacking if you ask me, and that's what's most worrisome.

Steely McSmash

04-25-2010, 03:27 AM

Expectations are to get one or two starters per year and two or three role players. .

Those expectations are fine but this draft exceeded them and you want to rate it C or D.

So We got 3 starters a backup TE, a punter, and a DE who was a backup and now starts for Denver.

CaliStillersFan

04-25-2010, 03:28 AM

When you get 4 quality starters in a draft that's an A for me.

PalmerSteel

04-26-2010, 08:20 PM

A's and C's voted the same and a couple more B's so would say the avg opinion is B. i will take that every year without much complaints.

steelreserve

04-26-2010, 09:50 PM

Those expectations are fine but this draft exceeded them and you want to rate it C or D.

So We got 3 starters a backup TE, a punter, and a DE who was a backup and now starts for Denver.

If you want to look at it that way, yeah. Way I see it, we got two starters (Timmons and Woodley) and that's it.

It does not count as "getting a starter" if you draft a guy, give him the starting job, and he sucks so bad that you immediately bring back the old guy to replace him. Nor does it count as "getting a backup" if he sucks even by the standards used to judge backup tight ends. Those are marginal guys who you gave a chance and it didn't work.

That counts for next to nothing, and in fact, the only thing that counts for less is a guy who isn't on the team at all, like McBean. This was essentially a two-guy draft that hasn't fully run its course yet and some of the stragglers are still hanging on.

MasterOfPuppets

04-26-2010, 10:28 PM

timmons - he's hasn't been anything special to this point , a few sacks here and there, but the "splash plays" are few and far between. he isn't putting in fear in offenses and looks to have trouble at times getting away from blockers, but he is knew to the position and still has a chance to improve ......B -

woodley - disappears in some games (probably more to do with scheme), but shows up in the big ones .....A

spaeth - not worth the 3rd pick used on him and was considered a "reach" on draft day ..accurate analyses.... doesn't block well and isn't much of a receiving threat .....D

sep - not sure what the exact number of UDFA punters are in the league, but i bet there's at least few with better averages than sep. we didn't just give up a fourth for him , but traded a pick to move up for him... he's great when kicking from inside the opponents 50, but other than that...nothing special..... C+ ( considering what was givin up)

gay - maybe he'll find his rookie mojo if he goes back to the nickle role ...C -

the rest .....F

tony hipchest

04-26-2010, 10:33 PM

timmons - he's hasn't been anything special to this point , a few sacks here and there, but the "splash plays" are few and far between. league leader in sacks by ILB last year.

MasterOfPuppets

04-26-2010, 10:40 PM

league leader in sacks by ILB last year.
he was a pass rusher in college, so its no surprise he excels at blitzing. but there's a bit more than blitzing involved in being an ILBer and he hasn't really excelled in those area's. but like i said, its all new to him, so maybe he'll grow into the role...maybe not...:noidea: ... but at his current progress he's in no danger of a probowl invite.

zulater

04-26-2010, 10:52 PM

Timmons was hampered by a high ankle sprain all last season. I think you'll see a better player this year.

steeltheone

04-26-2010, 11:36 PM

Sep has been an improvement over the Berger cluster. Other than that that, he has not lived up to a 3rd round pick. He does ok, But a third rounder needs to shine. I give him this season to rebound because of injury last year. we shall see.

MasterOfPuppets

04-27-2010, 11:03 AM

Sep has been an improvement over the Berger cluster. Other than that that, he has not lived up to a 3rd round pick. He does ok, But a third rounder needs to shine. I give him this season to rebound because of injury last year. we shall see.

he wasn't a 3rd round pick...4th and a 6th...:popcorn:

Indo

04-27-2010, 11:38 AM

I differ with many in Steeler Nation in that I don't think we are the invincible draft day behemoths that many of the talking heads make us out to be (especially Tina Weymouth). However, I do think that we have been pretty good about having regularly spaced out überdrafts, and this was our most recent example. Very good work by Colbert and (I'm assuming) Tomlin.

As for draft day analysis, the talking heads may not be very good at it, but the tom tom club is expert, IMO

SteelCurtain0815

04-27-2010, 04:34 PM

I have to agree with SteelReserve. I am actually really frustrated with the way our team has been drafting the last few years. It seems as though we can never get solid contributors in our later rounds (3-7). This year's draft especially frustrated me, as you can see in my thread (I hate our 2nd and 3rd round picks). IMO, your first two picks in the draft should be locks to be starters in the next two or even three years after they are picked, and your third rounder should be knocking on the door as well. The rest of the picks are probably hit or miss, which the Steelers have been really good at missing on as of late. I'm just waiting for one of our later round picks to contribute, so I can stop questioning our FO...

SteelKnight

04-27-2010, 04:43 PM

I gave a B because we decided not to be agressive and move up a few picks or even 1 pick to get players like Revis or Patrick Willis. It kind of sucks because had we lost that final OT Bengals game we would have been several picks earlier. Although Timmons wasn't a bust, if they wanted an ILB Beason has been more productive. Timmons was unnecessary. Even Leon Hall, looking back, may have been better value. We would have been fine with Foote or even Fox over Timmons and using that pick on Revis, or someone else (Joe Staley, Ben Grubbs, Dwayne Bowe).

Woodley was a steal.

Sepulveda and Spaeth...replacable.

B...

SteelCurtain0815

04-27-2010, 05:27 PM

I would have to give it a B as well. I think anytime you can get three starters, it's a pretty decent draft. Later round picks were fairly weak IMO. Timmons has underachieved as well. When are the Steelers going to find a steal in the later rounds??

steelreserve

04-27-2010, 06:42 PM

I would have to give it a B as well. I think anytime you can get three starters, it's a pretty decent draft. Later round picks were fairly weak IMO. Timmons has underachieved as well. When are the Steelers going to find a steal in the later rounds??

Probably 2010, with Dwyer. That's my guess.

I also don't think we've been doing too terribly in the low rounds recently. Mundy might not have been a "steal" in Round 6, but he looks like he's got OK potential as a backup ... Dixon in the fifth round might have been a great pick depending on how this season starts ... plus from last year, Harris could turn out to be a good backup or even a stud DL, and Burnett could get a shot to be the next William Gay, only good.

So at least the last couple years haven't been total washouts in the low rounds. We've gotten some guys with the potential to be GOOD role players, which is what we need to be getting there instead of guys who TRY to be role players and hang around for 2-3 years while they fail at it.

SteelCurtain0815

04-27-2010, 06:51 PM

Probably 2010, with Dwyer. That's my guess.

I also don't think we've been doing too terribly in the low rounds recently. Mundy might not have been a "steal" in Round 6, but he looks like he's got OK potential as a backup ... Dixon in the fifth round might have been a great pick depending on how this season starts ... plus from last year, Harris could turn out to be a good backup or even a stud DL, and Burnett could get a shot to be the next William Gay, only good.

So at least the last couple years haven't been total washouts in the low rounds. We've gotten some guys with the potential to be GOOD role players, which is what we need to be getting there instead of guys who TRY to be role players and hang around for 2-3 years while they fail at it.

No, the last few years haven't been washouts. We have gotten quality depth from Mundy. Harris and Burnett haven't done squat yet, but it is still way too early to tell. I'm just not a very patient person. I know it's the Steelers way to sit the rookies, but it makes me mad :banging: I wish they would have given Lewis a shot last year instead of Gay or Townsend. I'm hoping Dwyer is a steal, but like I said, there is a reason he fell that far.

Neil-Still-Rules-14

04-27-2010, 07:10 PM

I'm going A. 2 terrific LBs, a great 2nd TE, a great P, and an average CB. Doesn't get much better.

SteelCurtain0815

04-28-2010, 02:04 AM

I'm going A. 2 terrific LBs, a great 2nd TE, a great P, and an average CB. Doesn't get much better.

One terrific LB in Woodley. Timmons still has a way to go. Average at best TE. Good P. Generously average at best CB. Could get a lot better.